Dat App: PlayStation 4 versus Xbox One

Plenty of guides exist for the pros and cons of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but most people don’t care about the graphic cards and processors that these guides examine. We want to know what affects us. Here’s an overview of everything college kids should consider when purchasing a next-gen console.

Xbox One: It costs a not cool $499. Like, zoinks, Scoob. But, the Xbox One ships with an improved Kinect — Microsoft’s flagship motion sensor — and one controller. This “new” Kinect is far more precise than the inaccurate Xbox 360 model. It can detect facial features, heart rate and individual voices. While nothing life-changing has been announced yet, these features could lead innovative developers to actually care about the Kinect: Imagine a horror game that matches the music to your heart rate!

Additionally, the Xbox has exclusive games like Titanfall (which you should research), Dead Rising 3, and Forza 5. Xbox Live stays mostly the same but it adds the new Xbox’s most unique feature: Teputation points. This system gives points depending on how you act online. This means that intolerable twelve year olds will only get matched with…other intolerable twelve year olds!

However, the most important addition is that the Xbox One will, supposedly, replace all other home entertainment systems with Snap, which allows two programs to simultaneously run on-screen. That means Netflix/Halo or Football/Madden simultaneously. The implications could be enormous for the home-entertainment industry.

PS4: The biggest plus of the PS4 is that it costs $399 — that’s $100 less than the Xbox One. Though the PS4 doesn’t include any Kinect-like hardware, it does come with one controller and a headset! Sony also has worthwhile exclusives at launch like Killzone: Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son.

Further, the PS4 allows streaming to the PS Vita handheld, because everyone has a Vita (see: Vita: The Worst Entertainment Launch in History). But seriously, having handheld PS4 games is a game-changing possibility and could reasonably cause a Vita sale explosion.

But the console’s biggest draw (to outdo Snap) is the Gaikai cloud service. What this means, simply, is the ability to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games, with online capabilities, on the PS4. That means Ape Escape, God of War 2, and Half Life online. On the PS4. Pinch me; this thing could be a total nostalgia machine.